Overall I am thrilled by your replies, some more encouraging than others but all constructive, nevertheless.

I wouldn't be looking at until the following season at the earliest and have a lot of time to prepare professionally.

You guys are great!

And by the way:

shadowjack wrote:
> Cafare52. The biggest red flag to me is, "Like everyone else in our
> profession I think I am a superstar but unlike them I actually am
> one." It sounds like you are a legend in your own mind.

I was being sarcastic here.

>

AND:

>" Finally, you write that, " have worked with and observed some of these
> dinosaurs and hacks that do teach IB and many leave a lot to be
> desired.". So if that were true, why were YOU not teaching IB?"

I would have been-they offered it to me but financial realities forced me to leave for a more profitable region of the world where I could finally start to cover some of my loan.
>
>
Anyhow-it will be a tough decision to make. My current job is relatively "easy" in that expectations are middling and living standards and salaries are high. I have plenty of time to consider my options and hopefully with your input the status of the job market. I want what everyone else does I just feel like at this point I should no longer have to pay my dues. Perhaps I am wrong about that.

I didn't feel like you were abrasive and I appreciate the feedback from you both. Keep it coming.

My first international school offered me IB (TOK) if I were to sign on another 2 years which would have been another 2 years of loan deferment and the total inability to save money. I just couldn't accept that even though professionally it would have been the foot in the door I needed to get into the IB game.

I also made the possible mistake (strongly influenced by my lack of funds) to not attend a fair, which I have still yet to do. Nevertheless I was offered a job at the only 3 schools I interviewed with -2 APs and 1 IB- obviously no tier ones here.

I know that my area is one of the most competitive-I also know that I historically I interview well (6 interviews since graduate school and 6 job offers) and am fairly confident that I can really sell the fact that I am IB certified despite the fact that I have yet to teach the courses. I know all the jargon-extended essay, blah blah blah. I also carry no dependents. Furthermore, and the most frustrating point is I have worked with and observed some of these dinosaurs and hacks that do teach IB and many leave a lot to be desired. In the end a lot of IB is about cash money is it not?

The saddest part of the whole equation here is I really like the city where I live, my luxury apartment, the people I work for and with and would stay here indefinitely if I was teaching in a higher curriculum where I can really showcase my ability and develop.

Any more opinions out there of the optimistic variety?

As a prospective employer would you be hesitant to hire someone like this?

I taught for 2 years in the US before going overseas to a reasonably respected IB program but left after 2 years because of salary and cost of living.

Now I am in a city that I really like on a good salary but I feel my skills are atrophying and the program is weak/ non-IB and students are mostly local of the ESL variety. It is hugely disappointing. I am not an unreasonable person whatsoever but don't really feel like I will be grow in the direction I want to at my current post. Like everyone else in our profession I think I am a superstar but unlike them I actually am one.

So next hiring cycle if I choose to leave I would have:

2 years in states
2 years at IB school teaching non-IB classes.
2 years at AP school teaching non-AP classes.
Masters Degree
IB training but no IB teaching experience.

All 6 years of experience in Secondary Social Studies including (Economics.)

Is the 2, 2, and 2 thing a red flag? What do you think here? I know I interview well and can explain things away but is that the type of thing that would prevent me from getting an interview?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I never apply through Search's website but merely follow the instructions listed on the school's.

Best

Taipei all the way. I have lived in Taiwan and only visited Thailand but have extensive contact with both peoples and cultures. Everything from the food to the organization to the development and weather is superior in TPE. Taiwan is a first class "country." Go with your gut but that is my input. I also don''t want to denigrate Thailand but the people are shifty, there's low accountability and the expat community is too big. Plus there are just way too many tourists. Taiwan actually feels foreign where oft times Thailand does not. But you might like that? Either way you have two wonderful prospects ahead of you and are very fortunate in that regard.

Good luck to you.

Find out who the reference is. A friend of mine did this by befriending the HR lady and then ask SEARCH to strike it from the record. You have the right to do this as long as you replace it with another reference.

Good Luck

I respect your opinions and experiences. Maybe someday I will eat my words, though I can't imagine it happening any time soon-especially with the way things are developing in that part of the world.

No child of mine is going to grow up in a Salafi prison and that's that.

Furthermore, there are a lot of people in Mexico making noise about the corruption and governmental abuses where things are becoming more radicalized in sharia land.

Who is publicly criticizing ISIS? Very few.

Now even the old reliable Turks have Erdo?an who is dragging his feet when what they need is an Atatürk committed to Enlightenment values.

How about a 21st century Nasser for the Arabs? We are stuck with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and King Saud and the princelings.

I'll take my chances in Mexico where at least if my daughter gets raped she won't receive 200 lashes on top of it.

Insha'Allah

No I have never lived in the Middle East but have traveled extensively in the Muslim world. Overall, I've found the majority of the people in my experience to be above and beyond friendly and hospitable-and among the most welcoming in the world. That doesn't mean that I would be willing to expose myself or my family to their medieval a** backwards worldviews on a full-time basis. Yes-having lived and taught in NYC the chances I would suffer at the hands of violent crime are far higher there than they would be if I were living in a Saudi compound. But that's not the point. You can't stay neutral on a moving train and just like I don't support United States military aggression overseas I don't support medieval codes of conduct as guiding principles for civilization in the 21st century. Look at Europe and all the trouble the Muslims are bringing to places like France, Holland, Germany, and the UK. They come to the West for the fruits of the Enlightenment and then want to import those backward values which made them unhappy in their countries to their adopted homes. It's an abomination.

What you and I have are a difference in opinion. I refuse to acquiesce to 7th century barbarism by living in one of those places and working for or among those people, but I will live in Mexico where I find the people and culture far more compatible to my Enlightenment values despite the fact that it is more dangerous.

Yes, I might be robbed in Mexico but what they want is my money not my life. They are motivated by materials where the fringe psychopaths in the Muslim world who are after us want to slaughter us like animals cause they are motivated by an ideology-one that I find nauseating and disagreeable to all human progress since the Renaissance.

Terrible that any family would have to endure such needless and despicable loss.

This is why it's important not to teach in countries where the majority of the population seeks to emulate a 7th century pedophile whose idea of "civilization" is based on medieval blood feuds and the oppression of women and all non-believers.

Not to say that random acts of violence don't occur everywhere but I'm not going pre-Enlightenment-not even for that Saudi/Gulf State money!

Educators need to cut the "relativist" poppycock and call spades spades. These people are barbarians. If it wasn't for the ingenuity of Western oil companies they still be Bedouins wandering the desert.

My family owns a business in the States that employs, hires, and fires dozens of employees. Discussing the hiring process in international teaching with my father/brothers I find the average school's handling of the this process very unprofessional, capricious, and sometimes delusional.

Given that we are a profession that often obsesses with protocol and procedure there should be clearer parameters for dealing with this.

Why is is when I have 15 confidential references, my CV, and biographical information already on Search I always have to send all this information again? Why do I have to fill out your in-house application interface when all this info is already in my profile? Why do I have to waste an hour+ per application when I am trying to grade exams and play with my dog?

My favorite though is what you find while prospecting schools, i.e. Kingston, Jamaica-a complete and total dump-that requires 5 years of IB teaching experience??? Who in their right mind with 5 years of IB experience would do that? How about you move to Beirut, Lebanon and live ensconced by a Civil War to save $3000 dollars a year, while having to evade car bombs? One could make more money and enjoy a higher quality of life than either of the above illegally teaching English in China. What we all should be looking for is value and balance and that's what schools should be trying to provide.

But back to the point-funnily enough, some of the fastest turnarounds I've received are from top-tier schools telling me I'm not qualified to teach there. I'd rather receive this than nothing at all and to me it demonstrates value on the part of the school to have the decency to get back to you so one can scratch it off their list.

Out of the 25+ applications I've sent out and the 4 "human" responses I have received 2 responded to me immediately and the remainder took over 2 weeks. Don't lose hope. Unless you are high needs, which I am not, there is no reason for them to try and hire you immediately. There are plenty of fish in the sea.

I was able to score a job at an IB school in Central America with one year of experience teaching non IB courses. Definitely go for it and I would also encourage you to look in this geographical region. The money is terrible but you can get experience.

The states are quite varied...

I'd like to hear the answer to the question too.